So I need to quit smoking. I'm not getting any younger over here and need to start taking better care of myself. I've been smoking regularly for almost 30 years. I've managed to quit for a year a few years back, but got started again. It's a hard habit to kick, but I've got some pills called Chantix that I've tried before, and they helped then, but I really wasn't ready to quit, so I ultimately failed. This time it's for keeps though.

I've got kids who are old enough to know it's bad for me, and though I keep the smoke away from them, they do see me do it, and at some point I worry they'll think it's OK to do it themselves. Also, I'm a single parent who started parenting late, so I need to hedge my bets and try to stay alive long enough to get them out and on their own.

Apart from the obvious incentives stated above, I'm also putting in place another incentive. Our family is driving a 2000 car. It's been in a wreck (front end) and was supposedly fixed up ok, but I recently lost control and came pretty close to flipping it. It may not be the front end's fault, but since then it's made me nervous. I'd like for our family to get a new car, and I realized when I did the math on how much smoking is costing me, that I could easily do a monthly car payment with the money I'd save by not buying cigarettes. Basically I'm paying around $300 a month on something that's shortening my life. I think that money can be better spent on one of these:2009 Nissan Cube
So, hey, wish me luck. I really think I can do it this time!

$300 a month, nice. If you have been smoking since your kids were born then that money put into a college fund would have paid in full for an education for them. I guess this is why poor people stay poor in America.

$300 a month, nice. If you have been smoking since your kids were born then that money put into a college fund would have paid in full for an education for them. I guess this is why poor people stay poor in America.

..and if a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his ass when he hopped.
Yeah, I'm focusing on now, and what can be, not what could have been. That's just depressing, as you've aptly illustrated.

Also, it's amazing how far you can stretch a pack when you're poor, so the math on that doesn't necessarily hold up.

QUOTE(Rayder @ Jun 16 2009, 11:33 AM) Good luck. Every time I've tried to quit smoking, I end up smoking more, as crazy as that sounds, it's true. I commend anyone who can actually quit and stay off of them.

I've been told by doctors that if you can make it 5 days without smoking, then you are over the physical addiction and the rest is all mental.

Click to expand...

It's true, but the first 3 days are pretty hellish in my experience. Get past that, and add in hefty dose of willpower, and you're home free. When I quit for that year, I did it cold turkey, and after about a month the urges were mostly gone. I still thought about it, but the thoughts would go away after about 5 minutes. My mistake ultimately was to think I could just smoke one or two every once in a while, that's what started me back.

I quit drinking when I was 19 (I have a glass of wine once or twice a month, but I never get drunk.) I quit smoking pot 2 1/2 years ago, and my life has been better for it. This and coffee are my last great hurdles.

..and you can take my coffee cup when you pry it from my cold, dead hand.

The last time that I quit (Oct., been a non smoker since), I smoked these for like a mth. They're like 6 USD/pack, and I probably went through 40 packs or so. But it was good having 'em around. They don't sell 'em in my city anymore as far as I know. But there's always the internet.

The FDA blocked imports of those and the Electronic Cigarettes because they haven't been proven effective. I call absolute BS on them because it's more bureaucracy and not really a safety issue since both have no tobacco and the E-cigs produce no smoke.

I'm curious, if you had quit and were no longer physically dependent on the chemicals, what made you want to smoke one or two occasionally? Just out of habit?

Click to expand...

There is a mental dependency that is ongoing, that part gets a lot easier as time goes by, but it never goes completely away. In my situation, and this is both sad and stupid so brace yourself.. My mom went into the hospital for lung and heart problems, while she was there I took all of her cigarettes, the better part of a carton. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say, she would have a difficult time replacing them when she got back. I was trying to send a signal, as lame as that sounds. I knew if she demanded them back, I'd need to give them back, at least that was the justification for not throwing them away. So there they were, and I was curious if they still tasted the same, and if they'd still give me the same tweak that they used to. I basically justified my way back into smoking, at first just one a day, but after a month I was back to smoking a pack a day.

So I was stupid, and I paid for that stupidity, but hopefully I'm the wiser for it now. There's a ton of reasons to not smoke, and only a couple for it. I'm in a much different environment now than I was when I quit previously, so even without the promise of that COOL-ASS CAR, I've still got plenty of reasons to never smoke again.